March 2008
Monthly Archive
Monday, 31st March 2008
Judith 31 Mar 2008 | : Boring stuff
It poured last night in La Garrotxa and there was loads of snow in the Pyrenees, so we were going to go skiing today, but the ski resort closed half the pistes due to avalanche risk. There were also high winds forecast and although it was probably flyable at some point at Santa Brigida we decided to stay at home and do stuff. Ho hum.
Sunday, 30th March 2008
We went to the beach today. It was cloudy at home in Garrotxa, but sunny at the coast, and we were invited to our first BBQ of the year at Roger and Venonique’s in Sant Feliu de Guixols. We went early to walk around, top up our tans and look at the fish. We managed the first two, but it was too choppy to see any fish from the pier.
In the evening we went to Roger’s new flat, which is brilliant. Sea views from back and front, balcony, roof terrace and pool. Heaven. We had great food and even better company.
Saturday, 29th March 2008
We went flying at Santa Brigida. The forecast was for hot and sunny weather, but we we woke up a grey mucky sky. Plans to go flying at Puig d’Afrou went out of the window when we heard it was clagged in. Back to Santa Brigida…
There were loads of people there doing top-to-bottoms to get their paragliding licence and we chewed the fat in the landing field for a while.
Nani, Geoff and I went up whilst everyone else went off to sit the theory exam. It was very light, but Geoff launched first and went straight up. Nani and I launched next and it was very thermic despite being overcast. The sky started breaking up, the sun came out and the conditions changed to big lift/sink thermals, so I landed for a bit of a breather. 
Nani got a great low save and I decided it looked xc-able, so re-launched only to sink out and go down (again!). Geoff kindly picked me up and I was determined to make the most of the day.
I launched and got to 1300′ ATO in rough and broken thermals. On the ground the wind had changed and neither Nani nor Geoff were able to launch. At altitude it was blowing WNW and I made the decision that flying to Olot was probably not going to be easy. The drift was taking me towards the valley behind Roca Corba so I went slightly cross wind so I could fly along the cliff to the east of Santa Brigida and cross the gap into Sant Gregori. This was all a brilliant plan, had I not got intimidated by the shear spreadout of trees and the distance to any landable field. Had the climbs been more organised and stronger, I would have dropped onto the cliff, but I chickened out and chose to follow thermals which would take me from one potential landing field to the next.
I passed St. Climent de Amer and hit lots of sink. I decided to land next to Can Puig where they were having a BBQ and I could see the wind direction from the smoke. The wind was shifting around in all directions and I hit a strong valley wind as I was descending. Landing at Can Puig was no longer an option as I was drifting to fast. I ended up landing at the lowest point of the valley in a tiny, crappy stubble area.
I was just bunching up my glider when two huge Alsatians came bounding up to me barking and growling. Luckily their owner appeared within a few seconds and told me all about watching my flight over his house, my rapid descent and how he had been waving to me like mad the whole time. He was more excited about the whole thing than I was! He offered to drive me to anywhere I needed to be, gave me water and insisted on helping me across a little brook by offering me his arm. A real gentleman!
The vehicle he had was a combat coloured converted open top golf cart thing with a motor bike engine and we chugged back to Can Puig scaring all the local wild life with the roaring engine. Geoff met me there and we had a picnic in the sun before going back to Santa Brigida for some more flying. Loads of others turned up as well and because of the hot and sunny weather and it had a real fiesta feel to it. Everyone was smiling and basking in the heat. Roll on summer!
Friday, 28th March 2008
We went flying at Santa Brigida. The forecast looked promising for the coast and flying at Sant Pere de Rodes, but it all turned out cloudier than we thought. By the time we decided where to go there was nobody else out to play, so we went to good old Santa Brigida so we would both be able to fly.
On the drive there the sky was just looking better and better. There were cloud streets for miles and we were getting very excited about the flying prospects. I launched first and sank out! I tried my hardest for a low save, but nothing was working properly. Half up, half down. The thermals were really badly formed and I was looking for them in the wrong place… I only realised that the clouds were drifting from the back when I was standing in the bottom landing field and had a chance to have a proper look.
Geoff came and picked me up, but by the time we got back up to the top the sky had filled in. However, the lift was a million times better and I climbed up to 1200′ ATO easily. We bumbled about for a while and flew for a third time later in the afternoon when the wind picked up more.
Thursday, 27th March 2008
We went skiing at Masella. The forecast was for perfect skiing weather – sunshine and clouds. It was overcast from the word go and on the lift up for our first run it started snowing. Once we got back down the mountain it was back to the car for waterproofs and bigger sun glasses to keep the snow out of our eyes.
As we skied the snow got thicker, the cloud came down and visibility became worse and worse. It was cold and wet and it all came as a bit of a shock to us, being wimpy fair weather skiers. Snow was good though! We really enjoyed the skiing.
We went up to the top runs but cloud and steamed up glasses made me loose my way and I ended up skiing into a snow drift and getting my skis stuck – much to Geoff’s amusement.
When we left it was still snowing hard, although it was warm and sunny in La Garrotxa. Hopefully it will keep till next week, although forecast is for warm weather for the weekend.
Wednesday, 26th March 2008
Judith 26 Mar 2008 | : Boring stuff
The forecast today…Tuesday, 25th March 2008
We went skiing today at Masella. Because of the bad weather at the weekend, there was a lot more snow and the skiing conditions were fantastic. Some of the best snow we’ve had this winter.
Although not all the runs are open, there were some which we hadn’t skied at all this year, including a black run from the top of the mountain. For the first time ever we spotted a speed glider at Masella.
Nice and sunny conditions and cold beer in the sunshine to end the day.